The L Word
by PhantomInvader
Summary: Danny wanted to tell her, but nothing was going right.
1. Chapter 1

**I've hit writer's block on my stories, and then this sort of just appeared.**

**Bleh.**

**-Phanny**

* * *

Danny Fenton had never been particularly smooth, even if the current state of his life said otherwise. He was famous around the world for saving the Earth from an asteroid, he had super cool –not his words, necessarily, mostly his younger fans – ghost powers, and he had a girlfriend who was like, the coolest girl he knew. He'd known Sam for a long time, going on ten years now, and while he spent a couple of those years wanting to kiss her, really it was no surprise to anyone that, when Danny was faced with the end of the world, one of the first things he thought to do was plants one on her.

Now, however, he faced a problem. He was a guy, sort of macho in his opinion, but he still had feelings, and they were feelings that he, as a guy, felt that he shouldn't have, at least not yet. He wanted to just sit Sam down one day and tell her, make it a grand gesture, maybe, but his pride held him back, because from what he had learned, the guy did _not _mutter the L word first.

Danny struggled with it, because it didn't seem real. He and Sam had only been dating for a month, he told himself, he wasn't going to ruin an excellent thing by freaking her out with _feelings._

There was another half of him, though, that reminded him that he had known her for ten years, and that was plenty of time to fall in love with a girl, even if you only acted on it in the last possible second.

After weeks of debating, the latter half won him over, and he vowed to tell her. At some point. In the future. Not right then.

But how?

* * *

On his first try, Danny was nervous. When he was nervous, he put things together. And Danny was constantly nervous, which explained the forty-three artfully constructed model space shuttles that hung in his room. That day, though, a rainy Saturday, he had to settle for a puzzle. It was sad, he didn't even know what it _was_, as the top of the box had been lost and the pieces were sealed in with plastic wrap (Fenton Plastic Wrap with Jack Fenton's face all over it, available for sale for $4.99 at the local Ready-Mart), and any images on the side of the box were worn away with time. Danny had no idea what he was doing, but as long as he was distracted, this was fine.

A tap on his shoulder made him jump, and he turned to see his girlfriend smirking at him. How did he not hear her come in?

"A puzzle, huh?" Sam asked dryly. He shrugged, and she went on. "All right, what are you stressing about?"

Danny's heart beat faster when he looked her in the eyes. Now was the perfect time, he thought, she was right there, and they were alone, and all he had to do was pull her near and…

"I think it's a dolphin," Sam suddenly said, gazing at the unfinished puzzle on the table.

"Uh, what?" Danny was caught of guard, it took him a minute to realize she was talking about the puzzle.

"A dolphin," Sam asserted, "cool. I love dolphins." Danny smiled a bit. He wasn't surprised, Sam loved every kind of animal. She had a lot of pets, some without her parents' knowledge, and she was just so caring…

"I love…" Danny trailed off when he looked into Sam's amethyst eyes again, and he swallowed the next word, his body and mind both telling him _I'm not ready I'm not ready I'm not ready don't don't don't…_

"Danny?" Sam's worried glance snapped him out of his stupor.

"I love…I love dolphins, too." He finished lamely.

Confession attempt number one: failed.

* * *

**how bout them dolphins**


	2. Chapter 2

**This story's gonna be real short, just so you know. Probably only one more chapter.**

**-Phanny**

* * *

Danny's second attempt was, if possible, even more of a failure, and five times as awkward.

Danny and Sam were in Sam's basement alone that night, with Tucker having finally scored a date with Valerie, meaning he was spending the night trying to convince her that he was not a total loser. The two lovebirds were just starting in on watching a movie (or rather, ignoring the movie in favor of making out on the couch) when the thought hit Danny again.

Should he tell her tonight? When? After they were done kissing – yeah right – or should he wait until another day? His heart was beating faster again, the fear and adrenaline working his nerves, and he hoped his powers didn't act up as a result. Fortunately, all he felt was a cold feeling and nothing more.

At least, he _thought _it was just a cold feeling, until he decided that he _would _confess his undying teenage love to her that night, and tried to pull away from her mouth. It was then that he realized that she was trying to pull away as well, and failing.

It took Danny a few moments to realize that he had frozen their lips together.

"Mmmf!" Was all he could manage to say, blushing madly as the both tried to synchronize their movements when they lifted themselves off the couch, ensuring that neither one ended up pulling the other's mouth off.

Danny never got a chance to tell Sam how he felt, seeing as the rest of the night was spent trying to come unstuck with the use of a hairdryer (technically the heat from his ectoblasts would have worked, but he wasn't about to stick one of those near anyone's face), some embarrassing stammered excuses from Danny, and a lot of chapstick. Sam had laughed the incident off, and Danny didn't know if that made him feel better or worse.

* * *

**Shit, Danny, get it together**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Dannyversary gift from me to you**

**-Phanny**

* * *

Tonight was the night.

As Danny sat on their hill, the hill from which he and Sam had watched his award ceremony after saving the world, the hill where he had kissed her for the second time, where he had officially asked her to be his girlfriend, he thought of how there would never be a better time to tell her how he felt. She was next to him, leaning into him slightly as they just looked at the stars. They weren't talking, but it didn't matter. This was all they needed.

Sam was the first to break the silence.

"All right, spill it."

Danny stiffened for a second, resisting his nervous tic of rubbing the back of his neck. "What?"

Sam straightened up and turned to face him, looking at him skeptically, "I said spill it. You've been freaking out on me all week, and trying to tell me something. I can tell."

If Danny weren't a C student he might have remembered that Sam was an A student, and that she was certainly better at deductive reasoning than either of her friends. Thoughts were flying through his head a mile a minute, and he stayed silent until he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Sam…" That was all he could say, and it sounded more tired than he wanted it to, and he saw her expression fall, and she looked down, looking pensive before she spoke.

"I…do you…is there someone better? Is that what you want to tell me? That you don't want to…"

Danny's eyes widened. He tried to stop his mind from screeching _no no no no no _and find something to reassure her that that was the last thing he wanted, but the rapid fire nos just ended up spilling from his mouth, and she looked up at him again, amethyst eyes curious.

"No, that's…that's not what I've been wanting to say, I just…" He sighed again, frustrated with himself. Try it again, he thought, new approach. "We've…we've known each other for a decade."

"Yeah…" Sam obviously wondered where he was going with this.

"But we've only been dating for a month." He paused, and she gestured for him to go on. "But…ten years is a long time and, that's…enough time to get really strong feelings for someone, right?"

"What are you saying?" Danny could tell by her expression that she knew exactly what he was saying, and was just torturing him at this point. He didn't mind, he wanted to say it out loud anyway, he _needed _to say it.

"I…uh…" The word wouldn't come out, and he had no idea why.

Apparently, though, Sam decided he had suffered enough, and laid a kiss on his lips before telling him, "I 'uh' you too."

Danny probably should have made sure he was stable when he pulled her towards him quickly, but tumbling clumsily down a hill with her in his arms was nothing less than what she expected of him.

* * *

**Dorks**


End file.
